Aaron Arnold

Activist, Change Agent, Explorer, Foodie, Idea generator, Life mentor, Parent, Social entrepreneur, Student, Writer/Editor

We are all in the process of becoming...here are some of my life experiences that have molded and influenced who I have become until now: I am a social entrepreneur and nonprofit leader. I am an enemy of status quo, and champion of hope. I have spent my career investing in the lives of young people and the "why" can be encapsulated in a quote from a 2010 TED Talk by Emily Pilloton-Lam "youth the biggest asset and the biggest untapped resource in imagining a new future." Too often we see young people as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge and trained for skill, but I believe they hold the answers to the problems that we as adults have failed to solve. In them lies the hope for a better future. I have worked in over 50 countries around the world in holistic youth development, leader development, and nonprofit consulting. I lived and worked in Latin America (Costa Rica and Chile) for more than a decade, an experience that has forever changed the way I think and how I relate to others. I have a deep affinity for more collective cultures rather than the oppressive individualism predominant in the United States. After 30 years of working with a global focus, I find myself doing the exact opposite as I lead an smaller organization (Waukegan to College) that has a hyper-local focus. I am embedded in a community of approximately 90K people and serving youth from an under-resourced school district which has one of the top 25 largest high schools in the United States where last year only 15% of its graduates enrolled in a college or university. We help students follow their dreams through a college education with them goal of seeing an impact in their families and the community. We just celebrated our 100th college graduate and have doubled in size since I arrived 4 years ago, following the founder. Educational equity and innovation is at the heart of what we do. There is nothing more satisfying than to see a student discover, develop, and follow their dream! I am also a PhD in Leadership Studies student at Gonzaga University and my research focus is on how hope influences youth from underserved groups or communities to self-identify as leaders and engage in leader development. In essence, how do they leverage hope to believe in their capacity to make positive change in the world. I am married and my wife also works in nonprofit at Make-a-Wish IL. I have two daughters, one who lives in South Korea, and one is still at home with us. Raised in the conservative Bible-belt of the Midwest of the United States, I am a long way from where I started (except after 30 years of being physically away, I am back in the Chicago area). I was brought up in an evangelical Christian context where truth was absolute and shame was a great motivator. But I always felt a like an outside, a rebel, and a questioner. I highly value faith and spirituality, but have come to believe that compassion, love, and inclusive belonging are more important than any creed, belief or dogma. What drives me now is not membership in an institution but the opportunity and responsibility as a human being to make positive change in the world and be generous with who I am and what I have been blessed to received from others.

Thinking, arguing, innovating. How do we make things better, stronger, more impactful, etc. I am never satisfied and believe that everything can be improved or made more relevant. I am obsessed with coffee, beer, and cooking. I find so much joy in the creative process of making things to eat or drink. It requires so much time, attention and patience which so much of our society has traded for convenience, fast-pace, and pragmatism. Every day I invest in the process of a morning pour-over, paying mind to the water temp, the type of beans (where they are from, the process in which they were prepared and roasted, etc), and using your hands to make the coffee, smelling the ground beans and the tasting the fruit of your labor, savoring not just hitting a button or rushing through the drive-through. Hope. I believe that hope may be one of the most important foundational elements of leadership. I see hope as a function of a leader, both the demonstration of hope in themselves and the inspiration of hope in others. I love the quote by Paulo Freire, "There is no change without a dream, there is not dream without hope"

I am trying to find what is the tipping point when improvement in local educational outcomes (high school graduation, enrollment in post-secondary pathways, etc) catalyze community transformation. How can educational access and equity be the driving force for socio-economic growth in the local community so that we can actually move the needle. Too many nonprofits are way to proud of their outputs and don't realize that their outcomes are marginal not transformational. We feel good about ourselves when we help one person or a few, but how can our work lift an entire community out of poverty, disenfranchisement, and heal the past trauma its population has experienced historically.

Leadership Development, Nonprofit Management, Strategic Planning, Youth Development

TED has been one of my mentors for many years. I have several friends who have been TED or TEDx speakers and I have learned vicariously through their experiences. I can't even begin to guess how many TED talks I have recommended to friends, students, colleagues, etc.

Coming up with ideas for SNL skits - Inventing cocktails - Giving curated gifts - Collecting books that I may never read but have great titles